Electrically heated articles



Mm'ch M 19% s. LONGO ELECTRICALLY HEATED ARTICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 6,, 1967 INVENTOR SANTO LONGO C2 4 BY 0/362 ATTORNEYS March 10, 1970 s. LONGO 3,500,014

ELEGTRICALLY HEATED ARTICLES 7 Filed Dec. 6, 1967 ,2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR SANTO LONGO ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,500,014 ELECTRICALLY HEATED ARTICLES Santo Longo, 391 Roosevelt Ave., Freeport, N.Y. 11520 Filed Dec. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 688,396 Int. Cl. H05b N00 US. Cl. 219-211 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND Field of the invention This invention relates to electrically heated articles for warming the body, and in particular it relates to a new and improved scarf and blanket.

Description of the prior art It has been known for quite some time to employ electrical resistance wires to heat articles of cloth for warming the human body. For example, electrical resistance wires have been used in blankets, heating pads, jackets, pants, and numerous other articles of clothing.

However, previous electrically heated articles of cloth or clothing have been designed in such a manner that the electrical resistance wires have been extended rather evenly throughout the entire area of the article. Such was necessary in order to provide satisfactory heating for the portion of the body beneath the article. Thus, no attempt has been made heretofore to heat a large area of the body with a small, strategically located heating element.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved electrically heated article for heating a portion of the human body.

The design of the article, according to present invention, is based upon two new inventive concepts. The first concept concerns placement of the heating element. I have found that for heating certain large areas of the body is is possible to employ only a small but strategically located heating element. For example, one embodiment of my invention is a scarf which heats the entire neck area by employing a small heating element at the back of the neck. Another embodiment of the invention is an electric blanket for warming the legs of a person in a sitting position. A small heating element is mounted to be located between the legs of the person below the knees, so that heat will rise between the legs to warm the entire leg area.

The electric heating blanket would find widespread use for spectators at outdor winter sporting events, such as football games and the like. The blanket includes a concave upper portion and an convex lower portion designed to fit about the midsection of the body and about the ankles, respectively. The blanket also includes a pair of strategically located tie cords arranged so that the blanket may be wrapped around the legs and overlapped and tied tightly. The blanket also includes as an important part thereof a strategically located electrical heating element. The blanket is provided in two layers, a heat conductive inner layer and a heat insulating outer 3,500,014 Patented Mar. 10, 1970 layer. The heating element is placed between the layers and against the inner layer in a point adjacent the lower center of the blanket so that the heat generated by the heating element would rise in the area between the legs of the person. This heat would then rise to warm the upper leg area beneath the blanket. The blanket includes also a pocket formed in the outer layer for bolding electric batteries and a slot running from the pocket to the heating element for electrical wiring.

Another embodiment of the invention is an electrically heated scarf. The scarf also has two layers, an inner layer and a heat insulating outer layer. A slot is provided at about the central portion of the scarf for inserting a heating element and attaching the same to the inner layer. The scarf also includes a battery pocket in the outer layer. However, in the scarf the pocket is formed at one end of the scarf and includes a slot from the pocket to the area between the layers. The wiring from the battery then passes through this last said slot and along the length of the scarf to the heatingelement. The pocket for the batteries is so arranged that when the scarf is being worn the pocket will be at the end of a flap which extends downwardly from the neck so that the weight of the batteries tends to pull the heating element of the scarf against the back of the neck of the wearer. It has been found that by locating the heating element adjacent to the back of the neck, the warming sensation would be felt in the entire neck. The scarf is provided with a concave upper edge and a convex lower edge, the purpose of these curved edges being to assure that the scarf fits flatly against the neck of the wearer to enhance heat conductivity therebetween while the scarf is in use on the wearer.

Thus, an object of this invention is to provide an improved electrically heated article.

It is thus an object of this invention to provide a new and improved electrically heated battery operated blanket designed to heat the legs of the wearer, the blanket including a small, but strategically located heating element so that the small element heats the entire leg area of the wearer.

It is another object of this invention to provide a new and improved electrically heated battery operated scarf having a small but strategically located heating element to heat the entire scarf.

Other objects and the attendant advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description to follow together with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS There follows a detailed description of the present invention together with accompanying drawings. However, it is to be understood that these drawings are intended only to illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, and that the invention is capable of numerous modifications and variations apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

In the drawings:

Like numerals are used to designate like elements throughout.

FIGURE 1 is a planned view of an electrically heated blanket according to the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a view of the heating element taken along line 33 of FIGURE 2..

FIGURE 4 illustrates the heating blanket of FIGURE 1 in use wrapped around a persons legs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGURE 1 there is shown a blanket designed for heating a persons legs at an outdoor event such as a football game. Therefore, for convenience, this blanket will be referred to hereinafter as a football blanket. The football blanket includes an upper concave edge 11 and a lower convex edge 12 and straight side edges 13. Also illustrated generally in FIGURE 1 in dotted lines is a knee covering area 14. The area above the knee covering area 14 would be the lap area 15 and the area below the knee area would be the lower leg area 16. The blanket would be employed by placing the upper edge 11 around the front of the waist while the person is in the sitting position, the lower convex edge 12 thereby fitting neatly above the ankles. The sides 13 would then overlap behind the legs of the wearer and be tied together by suitable tie cords 17 and 18 attached to the side and front center of the blanket, respectively. The overlapping arrangement of the edges 13 and the arrangement for tieing together the cords 17 and 18 are shown in FIGURE 4.

Referring now to FIGURES 1-4, and especially to FIGURE 2, the blanket further includes an outer heat insulated layer 22 (such as wool) and an inner heat conducting layer 23. The two layers are held together by stitching 24 running about the outer periphery of the blanket.

A pocket 19 is located at the lower front center of the blanket and immediately behind the pocket are a plurality of attaching means, such as snaps 21, for retaining a heating element against the inner lining 23. Batteries for applying power to the electrical heating element are stored in pocket 19 and connected to the heating element 20 through suitable wiring 25 which extends through a slot formed in the outer layer 22. The heating element itself, as shown in FIGURE 3, would include a suitable arrangement of electrical resistance wires 26 for developing the necessary electric power.

An important feature of the present invention is that the heating element 20, although small relative to the overall area of the blanket, is strategically located so that in use it will provide suflicient heat to heat the entire area covered by the blanket. The heat from the element 20 passes through the conductive layer 23 to the area between the lower legs of the wearer as indicated schematically in FIGURE 4. This heat will then rise between the legs of the wearer to heat the upper leg area.

Referring now to FIGURES 5-8 there is shown another embodiment of the invention in the form of an electrically heated scarf 40. This scarf includes an upper concave edge 41, a lower convex edge 42 parallel to the upper concave edge 41, and a pair of decorative ends 43.

The scarf includes a heat insulating warm outer layer 51 and an inner layer 52. The two layers are connected together by suitable stitching 53 which may extend all the way around the edges of the scarf.

In accordance with the present invention the scarf includes a heating element 45 held by attaching means 46 to the inner layer 52. The outer layer 52 includes a slot 44 for inserting the heating element 45. The element is strategically located so that it will generate heat in the area of the back of the neck of the wearer. It has been found that this will have the elfect of heating the entire neck of the wearer since the back of the neck is the sensitive portion thereof.

The scarf includes a pocket 47 for holding batteries 48 from which wires 50 pass through a slot 49 to the heating element 45 between the layers 51 and 52.

As illustrated in FIGURE 8, the pocket 47 is strategically located so that in use the batteries will exert a forward and downward force on the scarf tending to urge the heating element 43 against the neck of the wearer to improve the efficiency of the heating period.

The parallel curved upper and lower edges of the scarf make it possible to press the scarf, and especially the heating element 45, flat and firmly against the curved back of the wearers neck to improve the 'heat flow from the element to the neck.

Although my invention has been described above and illustrated with respect to certain embodiments thereof, it should be understood that the invention is capable of numerous modifications and variations apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. A blanket generally rectangular in shape and including a top edge, a bottom edge andtwo opposed side edges, said blanket adapted to cover the legs of a person in a sitting position, said blanket having an upper lap covering portion for covering the legs above the knees and a lower leg portion for covering the legs below the knees, a first tie cord attached to one of said side edges of the blanket and a second tie cord attached to the center of the lower leg portion of the blanket, whereby the lower leg portion of the blanket may be wrapped around the lower legs and overlapped behind the legs and be held securely in place by forming a knot with said first and second tie cords, said blanket further including a heat conductive and electrically insulating liner layer and a heat and electrical insulating outer layer, retaining means on the liner layer in the center of the lower leg portion for holding a removable heating element and an electrical heating element removably attached to the liner layer, a pocket of electrical insulating material on said outer layer for holding an electric battery and an electric battery in pocket, a passageway from said pocket to said liner, and including electrically conducting wires leading from the battery through the passageway to the heating element, whereby when the blanket covers the lap and the lower legs, heat from the heating element isdistributed between the lower portion of the legs and up between the legs to heat the upper portion of the legs.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein the lower edge of the blanket is convex.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein the upper edge of the blanket is concave.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,660,518 2/ 1928 McComsey 219529 2,082,468 1/ 1937 Pupier 219211 2,590,212. 3/ 1952 Samuels 128254 2,697,775 12/ 1954 Licht 2l9212 2,842,655 7 1958 schwabel 219-527 3,084,241 4/ 1963 Carrona 219-211 3,096,428 7/ 196-3 Dublirer et al. 219-529' 3,407,818 10/1968 Constanzo 128384 FOREIGN PATENTS 37 3,748 4/ 1923 Germany.

VOLODY-MYR Y. MAYEWSKY, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

